The School Principal in Late Career: An Explorative Inquiry into Career Issues and Experiences in the Pre-Retirement Working Years

Abstract

The purpose of this explorative study was to trace the career experiences, problems, and issues of school principals in late-career stage, the place given to this stage in the principal's career cycle, and the way by which late career is interpreted in principals' life accounts. Based on life story interviews with twelve male and female principals over the age 55, five major issues in late career have been identified: enchantment and creativity; a sense of larger professional competence; change initiation and implementation; participative and considerate leadership; and changing to focus on other life spheres. Comparisons with past research on principals' career stages and practical implications are suggested.The increase in life expectancy in many Western countries has been accompanied by aging of the labor force, a trend that is expected to continue in the third millennium. Current forecasts show that between 1995 and 2030 the average proportion of workers aged from 50 to 65 years may rise from

Principals in Late Career: Toward a Conceptualization of Principals’ Tasks and Experiences in the Pre-Retirement Period

“…This finding draws support from past research indicating that older workers hold extensive expertise expressed by their ability to solve complex problems and incisively understand work processes (Kabacoff, 2002;Lahn, 2003) and by long-term holistic professional perspectives (Kakabadse et al, 1998). Similarly, Canadian researchers showed that senior principals face complex instructional and organizational issues effectively due to their years of experience in managerial aspects of education (Macmillan, 1998), a finding that aligns with findings from other countries (Mulford et al, 2009;Oplatka, 2007b).…”

“…The second way I sought to distinguish this study from prior work was to include interviewees from three different groups, that is, teachers, principals, and supervisors, adopting Heck and Hallinger's (2005) conjecture that the study of educational leadership needs to rely on multiple sources of information. Whereas past research on late career in principalship was usually based on principals' points of view (e.g., Macmillan, 1998;Oplatka, 2007b;Woods, 2002), I believe that the inclusion of supervisors and teachers may provide as wide a range of perspectives as possible. In addition, the use of multiple sources of evidence is likely to increase structure validity, because these sources of evidence essentially provide multiple measures of late career in principalship (Yin, 1994).…”

“…The very limited research on late-career principals unearthed similar contradictory findings. Thus, while Canadian late-career principals appeared to be disengaged, in that they took few or no risks when implementing change, and were not at the center of the discussions and debates surrounding the changes (Macmillan, 1998), English and Israeli principals reported initiating and implementing school changes as they have always done (Oplatka, 2007b;Woods, 2002). Similarly, whereas Australian principals feel higher senses of role conflict, ambiguity, and role stress than their younger counterparts, their Israeli counterparts perceived themselves enchanted, energetic, and wholeheartedly claimed not to feel burned out or stagnated.…”

“…While there has been more interest in the period of late career in sociology, career psychology, and organizational studies, there remains a paucity of research on this period among schoolteachers and school principals. A search for articles centering specifically on late career in principalship, the focus of the reported study, yields substantially fewer than 10 citations worldwide (e.g., Macmillan, 1998;Mulford et al, 2009;Oplatka, 2007b;Woods, 2002), most of which are from the Commonwealth countries. These studies have elucidated some reference to late-career principals' attitudes, experiences, and feelings, as well as analyzed their leadership styles and orientations.…”

Holistic School Leadership: Development of Systems Thinking in School Leaders

“…The research on late-career principals is limited and inconclusive (Oplatka, 2010). However, recent studies not only found no significant differences between the job performance of older and younger school principals but even accentuated a high capacity for adaptation, participative leadership style, and professional competence in late career (Mulford et al, 2009;Oplatka, 2007;Woods, 2002). The current sample's recurring mention of declining veteran principals in terms of their ability to perform at a high systemic level thus calls for further research.…”